Symposium Aims To Increase The Number Of Black Male College Graduates

According to American Community Survey, 28 percent of black men in the U.S. 25 years and older have graduated college.

In Georgia that number is even lower -- 24 percent of black men 25 years and older have a postsecondary degree. That’s compared with 34 percent of all men in the state of that age.

On Monday, a symposium is being held in Washington, D.C. to talk about how to increase those numbers. The “Advancing Success for Black Men in College” symposium will focus on black men ages 18 to 24 as they consider getting and navigating a college education.

Shawon Jackson is a rising senior at Princeton University and one of the speakers at the symposium. He says Georgia and other states need to focus on educational inequities throughout the public school system.

“We can’t merely focus on the high school level and trying to get students into and through college,” said Jackson. “ We really have to focus on a student’s development from the time they’re born to the time that they’re graduating from college and beyond.”

The college student says going to boarding school gave him the education he needed to get into an Ivy League college. Jackson says high schools should also help black male students with the college application process.

“I think a second issue would have to be the information that’s provided to them at the high school level with respect to college counseling,” said Jackson. If a student doesn’t hear about top tier colleges, then they’re going to be less likely to apply and seek out those opportunities.”